Update: Comcast tech support says that they are getting an error when they try to update the CableCards. Time to call TiVo support, I guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davedonohue

I now have the exact same problem. The tech who installed my CCs for the first time left about 90 mins ago. He tried to install both CCs at once (thanks, Gregor, for reminding me to give him the instructions to do one at a time).

I now can view analog cable, and the network HDs, but no digital or movie channels.

One call to TiVo and another to Comcast later, Comcast's new position is that my cards are not working because my work order has not closed. I'm informed that until the tech calls in his work orders for the day, my CableCards will not work.

Does this sound right to anyone?

They do not show as paired.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davedonohue

Update: Comcast tech support says that they are getting an error when they try to update the CableCards. Time to call TiVo support, I guess.

One call to TiVo and another to Comcast later, Comcast's new position is that my cards are not working because my work order has not closed. I'm informed that until the tech calls in his work orders for the day, my CableCards will not work.

Does this sound right to anyone?

They do not show as paired.

It doesn't sound right. It can take a few hours for the conditional access to filter through their systems though.

If they're not working soon, call back and have them hit the cards again.

After brokenTiVo's success in my area I figured they solved the problem with the lost channels (HBO, SHO & Cinemax). It took three more calls (and two calls to me they didn't make), but I'm working again. The lady who fixed it was Shelley in the "Video Department" in the Jacksonville, Florida office. Even after all of the trouble I had been through and them now having this fixed now, they were rude enough to ask why I didn't just want their boxes instead. Anyhow, those who still have this problem might try getting a hold of her.

My cards just wont get validated, the ones on the TIVO. My TV card was paired and validated on the first try. I just tried a whole new setup 1 hour on the phone and got 1 cable card to work and no HBO still. What gives?

For some reason both my cable cards now show the same host # and slot 2 is inopperable. If it wasnt for lifetime I would not keep this box...it has been a headache.

So i have one cable card now, not validated....and thats it. I have already made a trip to comcast to swap cards last week.

If I ever get off of hold with Comcast tech support, I'll ask for Shelley. I'm now on my fifth tech support call. Now that my work order is closed from my original installation, the tech I'm on hold with originally claimed that there are no such things as CableCard numbers and that "if Host ID were something that was necessary, there would be a field for it on my screen, sir."

I have since gotten her to find the CableCard numbers in her system, which she says are hexadecimal and all begin with PKK - the numbers reported by my S3 are all numeric strings separated by dashes.

I'm on hold because she's allegedly calling my local office to see if they can do anything. I got her to write down the CC #s and Host IDs as the S3 reported them with the hope that whoever she's talking with knows what they're talking about, and also asked her to pass along my phone number to them so they can call me directly if they do.

This is driving me crazy. I knew from past posts that there was a level of incompetence at Comcast, but never believed that after five calls I would yet to speak with someone who knew what they were doing.

Update: the confused call center lady (she was in Pensacola and couldn't transfer me to Jacksonville) tells me she's sent an "emergency" email to an account in my local office that is supposed to be checked every five minutes and that they will be responsible for solving the problem from this point. Naturally, she was not able to give me that email address or the name or number of anyone I could contact locally. I'll just sit back and wait for nothing to happen so I can repeat this process tomorrow

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronmitti

After brokenTiVo's success in my area I figured they solved the problem with the lost channels (HBO, SHO & Cinemax). It took three more calls (and two calls to me they didn't make), but I'm working again. The lady who fixed it was Shelley in the "Video Department" in the Jacksonville, Florida office. Even after all of the trouble I had been through and them now having this fixed now, they were rude enough to ask why I didn't just want their boxes instead. Anyhow, those who still have this problem might try getting a hold of her.

-Aaron

Last edited by davedonohue; 03-24-2007 at 03:11 PM.
Reason: Added resolution for this call

If I ever get off of hold with Comcast tech support, I'll ask for Shelley. I'm now on my fifth tech support call. Now that my work order is closed from my original installation, the tech I'm on hold with originally claimed that there are no such things as CableCard numbers and that "if Host ID were something that was necessary, there would be a field for it on my screen, sir."

I have since gotten her to find the CableCard numbers in her system, which she says are hexadecimal and all begin with PKK - the numbers reported by my S3 are all numeric strings separated by dashes.

I'm on hold because she's allegedly calling my local office to see if they can do anything. I got her to write down the CC #s and Host IDs as the S3 reported them with the hope that whoever she's talking with knows what they're talking about, and also asked her to pass along my phone number to them so they can call me directly if they do.

This is driving me crazy. I knew from past posts that there was a level of incompetence at Comcast, but never believed that after five calls I would yet to speak with someone who knew what they were doing.

Update: the confused call center lady (she was in Pensacola and couldn't transfer me to Jacksonville) tells me she's sent an "emergency" email to an account in my local office that is supposed to be checked every five minutes and that they will be responsible for solving the problem from this point. Naturally, she was not able to give me that email address or the name or number of anyone I could contact locally. I'll just sit back and wait for nothing to happen so I can repeat this process tomorrow

Hmmm...I wonder if there's a national center for CC conditional access? Shelley is the person that the techs like here, too, in SE PA.

I think at this point I'll pay for Shelley's direct line. The local office just called to tell me that the CCs ARE paired (which I think is BS) and that a tech will need to come out on Tuesday night to fix.

I lost my premiums sometime in the last few days it seems. All of my scheduled shows did not record properly, and when I went to watch a channel today -- nothing. They have been unable to get it done over the phone. She tried sending a signal a few times, to no avail. I get all the other channels. Ridiculous. this is in the seattle area.

Okay, just got off the phone with a tech who was a bit more knowledgeable than the prior one...she said it's widespread in our area, they are investigating why, and they gave me a credit. However, it's worrysome....

Still not getting HBO in Seattle. When I tune to HBOHD channel 549 I see about a half second of live video before I get the grey screen "provided by my cable provider" that I am not signed up for this channel.

Still not getting HBO in Seattle. When I tune to HBOHD channel 549 I see about a half second of live video before I get the grey screen "provided by my cable provider" that I am not signed up for this channel.

Still not getting HBO in Seattle. When I tune to HBOHD channel 549 I see about a half second of live video before I get the grey screen "provided by my cable provider" that I am not signed up for this channel.

Assuming you're on a motorola system. Sounds like they just turned on copy protection for HBO and haven't properly entered the host id/cablecard id/data values into the headend, and then send the right message to the card.

I'd call and double check those numbers. Then see if they can figure out how to send the cablecard validation hit (vs all the other types of hits they can send). Chances are you don't need new cards, but as Gregor just said - new cards give them another chance to get it right (or screw up other stuff).

I am curious to see if there's a disproportionate number of Comcast customers having such issues. There's no way for it to be statistically significant, of course, and the results are bound to be skewed towards Comcast since they're the largest US cable provider.

But some naive part of me thinks that if there's a huge spike in Comcast users with CC issues, we might be able to influence Comcast tech support in some way.

Given how naive I appear to be with regard to the above, today would be an excellent day to try to sell me a bridge

A little background. Everything was working fine from Sept 14 until yesterday when I called and asked to have HBO added to my package. This is the only premium that I have added since getting the S3.

Called twice yesterday to let Comcast know that the HBO package wasn't getting video, just the screen that says call your cable co to start service on this card. Was told that they were having trouble with HBO and cable cards and were working on it.

I called again today and was told the same thing, but this time got a CSR who wanted to take the time and work with me. She said that it might have something to do with the DRM thing, but wasn't sure. Checked with her support and was told that the cards needed to paired again.

So - have to pull the cards and start over with cable card setup. She had the TiVo instructions right there and we walked through the pairing of each card separately without doing guided setup and they both worked. Doing guided setup as I type.

Took about a half hour on the phone.

So if you are having cc issues with HBO try getting your cable co to go through the process of pairing the cards again.

I'm sorry to hear of the problems many are having. I've been fortunate and things have worked well. I had my CCs installed as part of a Triple Play about three weeks ago. While I specifically requested a Comcast technician to come, a Triwire contractor came instead.

The contractor came with Motorola CCs and installed them separately as instructed. He waited an insanely long 27 minutes before getting through to a guy at the Chelmsford, MA headend, and fortunately the contractor activated both cards without letting the Chelmsford guy get off the phone between activating CC1 and CC2.

Unfortunately, when I scrolled through the channels while the contractor was still at my home, I saw that CC2 wasn't receiving the premium channels I ordered. Therefore, the contractor had to call back the headend and wait another 20 minutes, but the second activation was successful.

I ordered the $159.99 Comcast Premier Bundle, which gives me virtually every cable channel they offer. The only exceptions would be Playboy and most international channels. Also, I don't get the big multi-channel sports packages like MLB Extra Innings or NBA League Pass.

I received my first bill and the charges were:
$159.99 Premier Bundle
$3.00 Cable Modem/eMTA rental
$1.50 CableCARD (additional card, same device)$9.99 Tons of fees and taxes
$174.48 Total

Interestingly, I had to take a Comcast DVR (at no extra charge) in order to get the Premier Bundle. I told the CSR I didn't want the DVR since I was using a TiVo and that a regular digital STB would do. However, she said if I didn't take the DVR I couldn't get the package.

Forcing the Comcast DVR onto me highlights the difficulty that TiVo has in competing with the cable-provided DVRs, especially when they're bundled in. I paid $670 for my S3 and bought a 3-year $299 TiVo plan for a total of almost $1,000. While to me, the TiVo is worth $1,000 over three years, and I think the Comcast DVR is absolute garbage, I wonder how many others can justify paying so much for a DVR that can't do PPV or On Demand.

So I guess they aren't charging you for the DVR? I wish they would do that for me. I want a cable box just for On Deamnd and the only box available has a DVI output. I'd like to get an HDMI output but to get that they would charge me an extra $11.95 a month. The DVI cable box is nothing but it won't work properly with the HDMI FLEA noise recution unit so I have to bypass that device.